“A BUNCH of pathetic nomads” and “permatanned chavs with as much substance as fresh air” are just two of the ways the cast of a new Essex reality show are being labelled.

The Chilean miners may be making headlines with the end of their living hell, but the makers of the Only Way is Essex would rather viewers be concerned with issues such as what happened when “Michael took Candy out for a driving lesson”.

The ITV2 show, which started on Sunday, focuses on a group of glamorous friends and associates and their high-maintenance lifestyle in Brentwood.

Starring Jack Tweed’s best friend, Mark Wright, the hour-long first episode – narrated by Basildon girl Denise Van Outen – lived up to the Essex stereotype with an abundance of spray tans, hair extensions, designer watches and Cristal champagne.

Despite notching up high viewing figures, the programme has left thousands of Essex men and women less than pleased at the way people in the county are being portrayed.

One Westcliff woman has become so enraged by the programme she has started up a Facebook site – Real Essex people don’t like “the Only Way is Essex”!!.

Call centre operative Katie Benn, 33, is trying to promote the page to demonstrate to the show’s producers they’ve got it completely wrong.

She said: “I’ve lived in Essex all my life and this show is so out of order. It’s like a pantomime. It’s just living up to every stereotype you could come up with about Essex people.

“If you watched this and didn’t come from Essex, you seriously would think this is what we are all like. It’s a joke!”

Katie’s site attracted almost 200 members within the first few hours of going live and has received a steady trickle of followers ever since.

However, she has a way to go as the show’s official Facebook page has more than 15,500 “friends” so far.

Katie added: “I’m hoping people will find out about the site and join it to just get the message across that we are not all like how this programme portrays us.

“Essex has a lot to offer. It’s a shame they aren’t showing that in the programme.”

The show charts the lives of a handful of “typical Essex” lads and girls, such as nightclub promoter Kirk Norcross, 22.

Kirk lives by the profound motto “I’d rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I’m not” and add: “We’re not just flash people, we’ve worked hard to be flash.

“I want people to know we are flash, but only because we work so hard in the day.”

Although fans of the show – described as a crossover between a reality show, documentary and soap opera – say it’s just a bit of harmless fun, others have been bombarding websites to have their say.

One Brentwood woman posted: “Yuk!!! Another load of rubbish glamourising idiots with no talent and making an area that’s crap look full of people who made it that way.”

Another woman slammed: “What a bunch of pathetic nomads. I used to live not far from Brentwood and used to frequent the Sugar Hut before it was burned down. Suffice to say I won’t be going back.

“Definitely not a true depiction of Essex Girls. We are not as thick as they make us out to be on the show.”

Shana Pearlman, a producer on BBC Essex, contacted Katie via the Facebook site and took the opportunity to add her own support.

She wrote: “PS: the show really is terrible. It’s insulting and not even a little bit entertaining.”

The show has already secured some celebrity fans on Twitter though, with Alan Carr, Katie Price and the Saturdays’ Frankie Sandford all writing about it.

However, Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles was less than impressed, saying: “The only way is Essex... Makes you proud to be from anywhere else on the planet! If you are from Essex... Move NOW.”